Attachment for looms



Nov. 13, 1928.

A. PALMER ATTACHMENT FOR LOOMS "Filed Jag. 4, 192a Patented Nov.13,1928.

[ e-UNITED STATES PATENT 5 OFFICE.

ALBERT PALMERfoF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T CROMPTON &

KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF,,WORCESTER,

MASSACHUSETTS. I

MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 01 ATTAGHMENTFOR Looms.

A Application flled January 4, 1928 Serial NoQ 244,515

This invention relatesto improvements in devices for analyzing thepicking motion of aaloom and it is the general object of the in ventionto provide a meansto be operatedby the shuttle to determine when thelatter passes a given p'oint in its flight,preferably the selvage oft'he'cloth. u

, In weaving one of the systems of threads is supplied bya shuttle whichmoves back p and forth to lay shots of filling} The shuttle is propelledby so-called picking mechanism which usuallyinyolves some form of cam 5As ordinarily constructed the-picking motion.

ofthe loom is ratherharsh-in its actionand is found not to beentirelyuniform in its operation sofar as the timeof flight of theshuttle is concerned; It isan important object of my present inventionto provide a. device to be applied to the lay and actuated by v theshuttle to detcrminetheltime at which {the shuttle passes anygiven fixedpoint.

It not infrequently happens that the width of a cloth to be woven vonlooms willivary weave a rath er wide cloth while at another time thesame cloom will-beca1led upon to weave a narrower cloth, It is alwaysdesirable to have the sheds open aswide as possible when'the shuttleenters them so that a minimum of resistance may lie-offered the 1 flightof the shuttle." It will beseen that when r a loom is weaving widefabrics thefshuttle vwill enter the shedearlienin the cycle of the pickthan would be the case if the cloth were narrowj Itis desirable ofcourseto have a shuttle start its flight as soon possible and thelengthoftime required for the shuttle to pass through the shedis onething determining the speed oftheloom; Inother words; if the shuttle canbe started earlier in its flight it, can be expected toarrive earlierincreased, It is so that "at one time a loom is called upon to in thebox on the opposite side of the'loom,

and therefore the speed of the loom can be tion toprovidea device whichwill. record the point in the cycle of thepi-cl; at which the shuttleenters the shed, use of the device making 1 it possible to set thepicking cam ahead somewhat .on narrower fabrics, the amount by which thecam may be set forward being determined by the device set forth herein.1 i i In a loom'employing a plurality of shuttles suclnas a fancy boxloom it may be desirable a further object 01 my invento confine thestudies oithe picking mot-ion to one shuttle and. it is accordingly afurther object of my invention: to provide means whereby a record may bemade at the will of the operator sothat the use of the device canbeconfined to one shuttle if desired. lVith these and other. objects inview which will appear as the description proceeds, my inventionIQSldeS'lIl thecombination and an rangement of. parts hereinafterdescribed and-set forth in the claims.

the accompanying drawings wherein a convenient embodiment of myinvention is shown, p 1 Fig. is a top plan view of the invention s11breast beam and the other part moving with the lay, i a

Fig. 2 is a sideelevation taken in the direc tron of arrow 2, Fig. 1

with certain parts in section, the lay being in Figs 3 is a verticalsectionon line 33 of Fig. 1,

' i Fig; 4- is a view similar to Fig. 2 but with the lay movedbackwardly and the graph being described on the part beam being partlycompleted, and

Fig. 5' represents one of the sheets having marked thereon the curveorgraph produced by the device in conjunction with the shuttle.

In the drawings I have shown a loom frame 10 having a breast beam 11 andhave also shown a lay 12 having a reed 13 and'a hand rail 14. The layand parts supported thereby imove back and forth each pick of the loomby mechanism not shown butwell understood. The'shuttleS moves along thelay over the racfeplate 15 and has the rear side thereof normallyincontact with reed 13.

owing one part thereof supported by the its foremost position, v

I oo fixed to the breast The parts thus far described are of commonconstruction and form no particular part of my present invention.

My improvements relate to means for determining the time when theshuttle S passes a given point along the lay and in carrying myinvention into effect I divide the structure into two parts, namely themechanism which is relatively stationary and mounted on the breast beamand the moving part which is supported by the lay and cooperates withthe shuttle. A stand is secured to breast beam 11 by bolts 21 and hasupstanding therefrom a pair of spaced walls 22 preferably perpendicularto the length of the lay and breast beam. A board 23 has projectingtherefrom a pair of spaced guide rods 2% which pass through the walls22, thereby guiding the board 23 and holding the same so that the facethereof shown in Fig. 2 will be substan tially vertical. One of saidrods has adjustahly secured thereto a collar 25 positioned to engage oneof the walls 22 to limit movemcn of the board while the other rod issurrounded by a comparatively light compression spring 26 interposedbetween one of the walls 22 and a pin 27 carried by the correspondingrod. The spring 26 acts normally to hold the board toward the adjacentwall 22 but by pressing on one of the rods 24 the board may be movedaway from the walls until the collar 25 limits movement thereof.

The board 23 may be made of any convenient material such as wood and isadapted to receive a sheet of paper 28. ,Sa'id paper may be held inposition bythumb screws 29 passing into the board. I do not wish to behim ited to the particular kind of paper employed.

The moving part of the deviceas previously stated is mounted on andmoves back and forth with the lay and includes a bracket 30 secured asby bolts 31 to the hand rail l i. Said bracket has a vertical wall32which is substantially perpendicular to" the hand rail and is providedwith a slot 33 through which extends a stud 3a held in adjusted positionin the slot by means of nut 35. A swinging arm 36 has a hub 37 throughwhich the stud 34: extends to afford a pivotal mounting for the arm. Thearm 36 carries a stop screw 36 which is positioned to engage a portionof the bracket 30 to limit movement of lever 36 in a counterclockwisedirection as viewed in Fig. Ann 36 is yieldingly held with the stopscrew against the plateby means of a light tension spring 38 attached tothe arm as at 39' and l0, said spring 38' permitting upward movement ofthe arm 36. The horizontal arm ell of the lever 36 is provided with ahub l2 in which is adjus'tably secured a marking device 43 which may bea piece of any desired form-of stylus.

The lever 36 has a depending arm which has a rounded projection 51normally pro crayon or may be connected to the bracket 30 as at jectinginto the path of the shuttle S as shown in Fig. 2. The lever 36 is madelight and may be stiffened by having a brace 52 extending between thearms -l1 and 50.

In the normal operation of the loom to which my attachment has beenapplied the spring 26 will hold the paper 28 out of reach of the stylusormarking element at?) and as the lay moves back and forth said stylusand the lever will be moved correspondingly. hen

it is desired to make a graph showing the time at which the shuttleengages the rounded end 51 of the lever the operator will pusht-he boardtoward the stylus to assume the position shown in Fig. 1, preferably atthe time when the lay is in its extreme forward position. As the laystarts to move reaiwardly the stylus will make a mark on the paper whichwill in etiect be an a o described. around the center of the lay. Duringthe backward movement of the lay at a time when the lay is approximatelymidway between its forward and extreme rearward positions the pickingmotion not shown will be brought into action and the shuttle will bestarted in its flight cross the lay. As the shuttle travels itsadvancing nose will ultimately engage the rounded end 51 and swing thelever 36 around the stud 84 against the action of the light ten sionspring 38. In doing so the marking element 4L3 will describe a pathwhich will be other than an arc concentric with the axis of the lay.Asthe shuttle passes beyond the rounded end 51 the spring 38 will movethe lever back to its normal position relatively to the hand rail and asthe lay arrives at its rearmost position the stylus will again be founddescribing an arc concentric with the center at the lay. On the returnmovement of the lay a corresponding operation of the device will takeplace by the rocking of the lever 36 relatively to the hand rail butwill take place at a different time in the pick inasmuch as the shuttlemust pass through the shed before engaging end 51 of lever 36. Byreferring to Fig. operation of the device canbe understood. 1 have showna card 28 having thereon a mark or graph having an arcuate portion 60which is substantially concentric with the center of the lay. Thisportion 60 of the graph corresponds to the rearward movements'of the lay when the latter is forward of its mid position. By means of verticaldot and dash lines in Fig. 5 I have indicated the three principalpositions the lay occupies when moving from its forward to its rear-mostposition. The line FC which marks the beginning of the left hand end ofthe portion 60 of the graph represents the so-called front centerposition of the lay when the latter is in its foremost position. Thesecond dot and dash line markedTC represents the so-called top centerwhich corresponds to the position occupied by the lay when the latter isapproximately 'one-halffthe way between its foremost andlts real-mostposition. The th rd line BO represents the so-called back center or theextreme rearmost position'which the lay assumes. I I I II I It is usualpractice to setthe picking cam of the loom so that it will begin to movethe picking motion and shuttle when the lay is on so-called top centeror midway between its extreme forward an d rearward position with thelaymoving rearwardly. It takes a small fraction of a second for the lostmotion of the various connections'between the cam and the shuttle to betaken up,after which the shuttle will start to move out of the box. B yhaving the rounded end '51 located approximately over the selvage of thecloth it ispossible'to determine with considerable aceuracy'whattheposition of the lay is at the time the shuttle enters the sheds definedby the warp threads. As shown in'the graph illustrated in Fig. 5

the shuttle enters the shed when the lay approximately onefourth ot' thedistance between topcenter and back center and the graph shows acorrespondingouick upward trend 61. After the shuttle has passed thedevice spring 38 will return the marking ele- I ment 43to its normalposition and the graph will return by means ofline to a continuation 63of the beginning of the graph shown at The distance between theascending and descending lines 61 and 62,respectively,

will depend some-what uponthe length of the flight of the shuttle in butone direction, but it is to be understood that two devices may be usedif desired, one at each side of theloom,

and that the marking element 43 may be utilized to register the point inthe cycle of'the loom when the shuttle emerges from the sheds as well asthe point where it enters the sheds.

Tests made with the device set forth herein have enabled me to alterthepicking motion of a loom to which the device has been applied so as toease the actionof the shuttle and to improve pickingconditions. By theuse of my present device the weaver can tell I by measuring thepoint atwhich the shuttle engages the recording lever 36 what the properrelation should be between the picking motion and the harness motions ofthe loom.'f It is undesirable of course to have the harnesses openany-appreciable length of time beforethe shuttle can enter theshed asthis represents a wasteof time. It is likewise undesirable to have theshuttle enter the sheds before the harnesses are sufficiently open toermit an eas assa e of-the shuttle other wise the power of the pick mustbe increased beyond a desirablepoint merely to overcome friction betweentl e warp threads and the shuttle.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a very simpledevice for deterinining the time in the cycle of the pick of a 100111 atwhich the shuttle passes any selected point and that by the use of thedevice the weaver may know by simple calculation from the chart or graphsecured whether the picking motion and harness motions are properlyrelated so as to providebest weaving condi tions.

I Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the "invention and I donot wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is: I II I s 1. A device of the class described for a loomhaving a relativelyfixed breast beam and alay moving toward and from the breast beam and ashuttle to move along the lay, a

pair of cooperating indicating elements one of WlllCl'l is supported bythe breast beam and therother of which moves wlth the lay, and

means actuated by the shuttle to cause relaion supported by and movablerelatively to the lay to have engagement with the means on the breastbeam, and means actuated by the shuttle as the latter is in flight tocause relative movement between the means and the marking element inaddition to that imparted thereto by the lay as the latter movesrelatively to the breast beam.

7 3. A device of the class described for a loom having a relativelyfixed breast beam and a lay moving toward and from the breast beam and ashuttle to move along the lay, a

pair oi oooperating recording devices one of which is supported by thebreast beam and theother of which motes with the lay, the device moving.with the. lay being relatively movable with respect to the latter andbeing movable by the shuttle while the latter is in. flight to impart tosaid device supported by the lay a movement in addition to that causedby the lay as the latter moves relatively to the breast beam.

4. A'device of the class described for a loom having a relatively fixedbreast beam and a lay moving toward and from the breast b'iam and ashuttle to move along the lay, a relatively fixed surface to have agraph marked thereon, a marking element supported by the lay to haveengagement with the surface, said element capable of receiving two kindsof motion, one motion being imparted thereto by the lay alone as thelatter moves relatively to the breast beam and the other motionbeingimparted thereto by the shuttle and lay combined as the laycontinues to move relatively to the breast beam.

5. A device of the class described for a loom having a relatively fixedbreast beam and a lay moving toward and from the breast beam and ashuttle to .move along the lay, means supported by the breast beampresenting a surface to receive a mark, a lever supported by andpivotally mounted with respect to the lay, a marking element carried bythe lever, and yielding means to hold said lever in normal position,said lever being engaged by the shuttle while the latter is in flighttomove the lever against the action of the yielding means, whereby themarking element will produce a mark on the first named meanscorresponding to the time said lever and shuttle engage each other.

6. A device of the class described for a loom having a relatively fixedbreast beam and a lay moving toward and from the breast beam and ashuttle to move along the lay, a

recording member supported by the breast seam and movable fromnon-recording to recording" position, and means supported by the. layand deriving movementirom the shuttle when the latter is in {light tomake a record upon said means to indicate the time in the cycle of theloom when the shuttle engages the device.

7. A device of the class described for a loom having a relatively fixedbreast beam and a lay moving toward and from the breast beam and ashuttle to move along the lay, a recording member supported by thebreast beam, and means supported by the lay and deriving movement fromthe shuttle when the latter is in flight to make a record upon saidmeans to indicate the time in the cycle ot' the loom when the shuttleengages the device.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

ALBERT PALMER,

